Following a period of intense student-led protests, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and economist, Muhammad Yunus, is poised to become the interim head of government in Bangladesh this Thursday. The immediate predecessor to this position, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was pressured into resignation and subsequently sought refuge in India after weeks of unrest.
Muhammad Yunus, who at the age of 84 is Bangladesh’s sole Nobel award winner, was put forward as a suitable candidate for this role by protesting students. Yunus, a long-term critic of the former Prime Minister, is set to take an oath pledging his adherence to his advisory role. This interim government, predicted to be composed of up to 15 members as suggested by the army chief, might be established later on Thursday after the finalisation of name specifications.
Contrary to previous governments, Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party did not play a part in the cross-party discussions led by General Waker-Uz-Zaman, the army chief. He also announced Hasina’s resignation.
Late on Wednesday, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Hasina’s son, revealed on Facebook that the party will not accept defeat prematurely and is prepared to engage in dialogue with political opponents and governing bodies.
Mr Yunus, known as the ‘banker to the poor’, received the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for establishing a bank that was instrumental in combating poverty by offering small-scale loans to those in need. Mr Yunus is set to return home to Dhaka from Paris, where he was receiving medical care, on Thursday.
A spectacular end to Hasina’s rule, which spanned four terms and saw her re-elected for a fifth in January, provoked a mix of celebratory and violent reactions across the country. Refuge was then found in neighbouring India after her official dwelling was overrun and vandalised by the public.
In July, opposition against government job quotas spurred wide-scale student protests that resulted in the loss of almost 300 lives and thousands injured. These protests faced heavy backlash from the authorities, which gained negative international attention, despite denial of excessive force used by the government.
Demonstrations were driven by harsh financial circumstances and political oppression alike. After a period of vigorous growth due to the enlargement of the apparel sector, the nation’s economic health suffered due to expensive imports, inflation, and unemployment. The government sought financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund.
Mr Yunus, alongside the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), primary political adversaries of Ms Hasina, appealed for tranquility and cessation of social unrest on Wednesday. “No destruction or retribution,” stated her principal adversary and BNP leader, Khaleda Zia, aged 78. She conveyed this message in a visual communication from her hospital bed to her mass of followers in a Dhaka rally on Wednesday.
Ms Zia, who obtained freedom from residential imprisonment on Tuesday, and her abroad-residing son Tarique Rahman appealed for nationwide elections to be conducted within a timeframe of three months during the rally.
On Wednesday, the fairness of a ruling about Mr Yunus’s past criminal record in a labour-related case, which led to a six-month sentencing in January, was reassessed and overruled. Mr Yunus denounced his legal charges as political motivations from Ms Hasina to suppress opposition.